Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking." - Charles Krauthammer

"The hardest thing you're ever going to do in your life is fail at something, and if you don't start failing at things, you will not live a full life." - Sebastian Junger

"Pensions, paychecks make men do things they shouldn't." - James O'Keefe

"I cultivate empty space as a way of life for the creative process." - Josh Waitzkin

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile." - Mark Twain

"Write your goals on a sheet of paper. Circle the three most important. Avoid doing any work on anything that's not circled." - Shane Parrish

"First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty, and the right to pursue your own happiness. That's politics done right, hard earned, often by war." - Charles Krauthammer

"If you want to destroy any nation without war, make adultery or nudity common in the young generation." - Saladin

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty and the right to pursue your own happiness. That's politics done right, hard earned, often by war." - Charles Krauthammer

"Karma is just you, repeating your patterns, virtues and flaws until you finally get what you deserve." - Naval Ravikant

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." - Meister Eckhart

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history." - Hegel

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." - Meister Eckhart

"Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile." - Mark Twain

"Write your goals on a sheet of paper. Circle the three most important. Avoid doing any work on anything that's not circled." - Shane Parrish

"First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty, and the right to pursue your own happiness. That's politics done right, hard earned, often by war." - Charles Krauthammer

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"You have to be odd to be number one." - Dr. Seuss

"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature." - Joseph Campbell

"You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants a magical solution for their problems, and everyone refuses to believe in magic." - Lewis Carroll

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." - Meister Eckhart

"Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile." - Mark Twain

"Write your goals on a sheet of paper. Circle the three most important. Avoid doing any work on anything that's not circled." - Shane Parrish

"First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty, and the right to pursue your own happiness. That's politics done right, hard earned, often by war." - Charles Krauthammer

Currently Reading

Here's the books I'm currently reading.

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. The book is both a history of physics and quantum mechanics and also the case for String Theory. About half way done - slow reading because of the material. Reading with a grain of salt because the more time passes by the more skeptical I become about String Theory.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Re-reading this for the I don't know how many times. Just felt like picking it back up. About half-way through. In my opinion perhaps the most under-rated of the Harry Potter books.

Things That Matter by Charles Krauthammer. Just started this one and it may take a while. It is a collection of essays and I'm keeping myself to reading at most one essay a day. Feel this is the best way to get the most out of Dr. Krauthammer's prose.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations..

Do you think when George Conway now shaves in the morning he looks in the mirror and asks himself, "Do I really have a moonface? Damn it! I do have a moonface don't I"... Trump ratchets up the pressure on China's economy. Not a fan of the name "Economic Prosperity Network" and I'd also expand the group to include Mexico and Brazil since some manufacturers may wish to move back to or at least closer to the US... "First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty and the right to pursue your own happiness. That's politics done right, hard earned, often by war." - a Charles Krauthammer quote that seems appropriate today... Very quietly Israel has been kicking Iran's ass in Syria. "The Israeli officials refused to comment on these reported attacks, maintaining Israel's policy of ambiguity, under which it generally acknowledges taking action against Iran in Syria without specifically confirming individual strikes"... The Democratic Convention in August is shaping up to be very entertaining. You have certain Dems mumbling that Joe Biden shouldn't be the candidate because of his mental decline while others say Biden should withdraw because of the Tara Reade allegations. The hardcore Bernie Bros will be vocal that Bernie Sanders should be the candidate if Biden withdraws while the Democratic establishment will do anything to keep that from happening. Then you'd have all the women and their supporters of those who were not picked to be on the ticket. Look for many of them to refind their "Me Too" religion. Would anyone be surprised that the DNC actually hopes to cancel the circus that will be their Convention this year? Get the popcorn out... "If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." - Meister Eckhart...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not for nothing but here's a semi-regular reminder that Al Gore is 7-years younger than both Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg and 6-years younger than Joe Biden. And if the Democrats continue to make climate change a top issue then Gore has better credentials then anyone currently running... Author Charles Portis best known for his novel True Grit has passed away. I added his book The Dog of the South to my Amazon wish list based solely on this remembrance of Portis. True Grit is a vastly underrated book... .. Did not watch the Democratic Debate last night in Las Vegas but this morning I awoke with a sadness of wishing Charles Krauthammer were still alive to critique it in writing... A reminder that President Obama signed 1,927 Presidential pardons/commutations while President Trump has just signed 26. So let's take a step back from any faux outrage... Tremendous Angst would be a good name for a grundge era cover band... "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." - Confucius...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- When the line between satire and reality is not just blurred but obliterated.

- North and South Korea agree to round of reunions of divided families

- I think this thread best explains the type of person Charles Krauthammer was. It should be mentioned that he was also a huge baseball fan.

- Just saying

- Heh heh - come and take them!

- When a Mars simulation goes wrong. If it's this tough to run a successful simulation on Earth it doesn't bode well for a manned Mars mission.

Next Up for Newt

Now that Newt Gingrich has finally suspended his campaign - I have an idea on what his next step should be. Newt has been famous for threatening to have a series of 3-hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates with just about anyone with nobody taking him serious. Well what some cable news network with low viewership should do (which I guess could be any of them except Fox News) is take Newt up on his offer.

Here's the deal.

Well known lefty lobbyists or personalities would pay $10,000 for a half hour debate with Newt on the subject of their choosing (approved by Newt). Newt would debate five such persons which would make up to 4 hours of original programming for the network (when you factor in pre-debate time and post debate analysis) and a $50,000 payday for Newt. A win-win. They could probably do about four of such debates.

I like the idea but I don't especially like Newt. The potential exists for the network to use Newt as a stand-in for Mitt Romney and use this format to make Newt and by extension Romney seem unattractive to the viewing audience. What I'd really like to see is someone like Victor Davis Hanson or Charles Krauthammer take on their opposite numbers from the Left. That would be great television.

Presidential Over-reach

Charles Krauthammer makes a very interesting point regarding President Obama's "compromise" on birth control and the Catholic Church.

The President of the United States has just ordered private companies to give away for free a service that his own health and human services secretary has repeatedly called a major financial burden.

On what authority? Where does it say that the President can unilaterally order a private company to provide an allegedly free-standing service at no cost to certain select beneficiaries?

Very interesting observation on the pivot from an attack on the free exercise of religion to an attack on free enterprise. If you own or run a business - the President has basically just said that he can make you give away one or more of your services or goods for free and (according to his administration) there is nothing you can do about it.

History's View of George W. Bush

Charles Krauthammer has an interesting article this morning on how history will view President Bush. Not to steal his thunder but here's how Krauthammer finishes the piece:

In this respect, Bush is much like Truman, who developed the sinews of war for a new era (the Department of Defense, the CIA, the NSA), expanded the powers of the presidency, established a new doctrine for active intervention abroad, and ultimately engaged in a war (Korea) -- also absent an attack on the U.S. -- that proved highly unpopular.

So unpopular that Truman left office disparaged and highly out of favor. History has revised that verdict. I have little doubt that Bush will be the subject of a similar reconsideration.

If you've read this space for any period of time - you'll know that I've been saying that exact same thing for over 2 years now.

Krauthammer, Pelosi and Apologies

Charles Krauthammer has a very good column today on Nancy Pelosi's resolution regarding the Armenian genocide.

As I was reading it - I couldn't help but think that if Nancy Pelosi is sincere about addressing past wrongs then maybe she will soon submit a resolution condemning the Democratic Party for its past support of both slavery and segregation. I mean the segregation part is much more recent history than the Armenian genocide and isn't it better to get the beam out your own eye (so to speak) first before making resolutions condemning others? I won't hold my breathe for that to happen though unless Pelosi can come up with a way to somehow make such a resolution an attack on George Bush.